In the boat production industry, it has been the custom to deliver the boats to the boat dealers by loading the boats on boat haul vehicles. The boat trailers which are usually sold with the boats are delivered separately. Typically, the boats are aligned parallel to one another on the boat haul vehicle, usually with the boats being inclined with their bows raised upwardly so as to make maximum usage of the space within the load carrying space of the vehicle.
When the boats are delivered to the dealer, usually the dealer is required to have a crane that will lift each boat from the boat haul vehicle. Further, the dealer usually provides a boat trailer for each boat so that the crane can sit each boat on its trailer during the unloading process. If the boat trailers are not available or are the wrong size, etc., the dealer might have to place the boats on the ground or on the wrong trailers. Further, if an outboard engine is to be mounted to the boat, the dealer typically must select an engine suitable for the boat and mount the engine to the boat.
In other arrangements of hauling boats from the boat manufacturer to the dealer, boats are mounted on their individual trailers at the manufacturing site and the boats and trailers are lifted by a crane and placed on a boat haul vehicle. Sometimes the trailer wheels of the boat trailers are removed so as to make a more compact load of the boats and their trailers on the boat haul vehicle. When delivered, the dealer must use a crane to remove the boats from the boat haul vehicle and remount the wheels on the boat trailers.
In either of the above described processes of loading and unloading boats on a boat haul vehicle a substantial amount of time, equipment and manpower is required. The boats must be carefully placed on, supported on and removed from the boat haul vehicle to avoid damage to the boats. Also, only a few boats can be transported at a time.
Thus, it can be seen that it would be desirable to provide an efficient and versatile boat haul trailer to haul several boats already mounted on their respective trailers from the site of the boat manufacturer to the dealer, so that each boat and its trailer can be rolled on and rolled off the boat haul trailer with its own trailer wheels used to move the boats and without requiring the use of a crane to lift the boats.